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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081064">Step Into The Sun</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lxmos_nox/pseuds/lxmos_nox'>lxmos_nox</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Lily Evans Potter is a Good Friend, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Petunia Evans Dursley Being An Asshole, Sirius Black &amp; Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Sirius Black Needs a Hug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 01:56:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,014</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081064</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lxmos_nox/pseuds/lxmos_nox</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Potters may have taken Sirius in when he ran away but who did he go to on that fateful night? None other than Lily Evans, of course!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sirius Black &amp; Lily Evans Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>78</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Step Into The Sun</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn't uncommon for the youngest Evans to still be awake at three in the morning in her home in Cokeworth. She always had a book that just had a few chapters left or an essay that she just wanted to get out of the way before she met up with her friends the next day. She liked the peace and quiet that came with it. No parents popping in her room every ten minutes to check up on her because she was so quiet (God bless them though) and, on a more positive note in her eyes, no older sister to call her a freak just for looking at her. She'd finally have the privacy she lacked everywhere else in her life. And she bloody loved it. </p><p>And, with a messy-bun to complete her rainbow-pyjama-look, that was where Lily Evans found herself on the last day of July in 1976 at precisely 3:27am, standing in her kitchen with a pot of ice cream and sucking on a spoon, no book or unfinished essay in sight. Sometimes, she just needed a break. Petunia had just started a new diet and was taking every opportunity to rub it in her face and call her pudgy, but Lily couldn't care less. She had no trouble teasing Petunia back by stating the truth in why she was even on this blasted diet. She'd met a boy at her stupid office job, some prick called Vernon, and wanted to impress him. Petunia had profusely and angrily denied this proclamation and had ignored Lily for a full two weeks before their dad had enough of their silent argument. Lily didn't care though. Just let the girl enjoy her goddamn ice cream, that was all she wanted.</p><p>She was already halfway through her tub when there was a knock on her front door, and she dropped her spoon with a clatter. Who on motherfucking Mars would visit someone's house at fucking four in the morning? Potter. Potter would. As some big romantic gesture or some shit like that. All he would need would be a thunderstorm, and he'd become the most cliché prat she had the unfortunate pleasure of knowing. She'd ignore it for now. She shrugged once as she picked up her spoon before Crookshanks, her small ginger kitten, got his hair all over it and went to dig it into her ice cream again before another knock echoed through the house, a little more desperate this time. Lily looked at her ice cream longingly then sighed. She'd just tell whoever it was to go piss off. She nodded affirmatively. Yes, she should do that. So, grabbing her blanket from its place on the stairs where she'd left it, she wrapped it around her and cautiously opened the door. No burglar would be so kind as to knock on the door before he'd ransack a home, but she couldn't be totally sure about that. It was, after all, 4:06am.</p><p>"Sirius?" she gasped in a whisper, opening the door wider after she'd peered around it. </p><p>He looked dreadful. His objectively handsome face had been horribly distorted by bruises and scratches and blood splatters she almost didn't want to know came from. Lily knew obviously, this was the work of Walburga Black, Sirius' wretched mother. Of course she knew that. She wasn't an idiot. She grew up with Se… With Snape and his father was a nasty piece of work. She noticed the signs almost immediately when she'd met Black back in their first year. She'd kept it to herself, obviously, until they unexpectedly became close in their second year and he broke down to her about not wanting to go home that Christmas. It'd broken her poor twelve-year-old heart that she couldn't help. If it had been anyone else, she'd immediately send a letter to her parents, asking if he could spend Christmas with them, and she knew they'd say yes without hesitation. But this was Sirius Black she was thinking about. He'd never be allowed to spend the holidays with Muggles. She was utterly terrified for his life if she did that so she forced it out of her mind and simply comforted him, saying that he could always send her letters with updates and to tell her that he was okay. He promised that he would do precisely that and Lily couldn't describe the sigh of relief she'd let out when he sent her present with a letter saying that he'd managed to get Walburga to agree to let him stay with Potter. She didn't have to spend the holidays freaking out about her new friend.</p><p>Lily suddenly saw that fearful little boy as Sirius Black stood on her doorstep with a black eye and a limp, his school trunk and broomstick behind him. That was when she knew she could help him this time. So, with an air of protectiveness, as if Walburga was just five feet away, she helped Sirius to the sofa and dragged his broomstick and trunk into her house without a word before rushing to the kitchen to retrieve the first-aid kit. And to scold Crookshanks for helping himself to some melted ice cream droplets that had fallen onto the worktop. </p><p>"Crookshanks, no!" </p><p>As she grabbed the ice cream and spoon (and a clean one for Sirius), Crookshanks jumped at the sudden movement and bolted out of sight to Lily's bedroom, but she only sighed and scooped up the first-aid kit, quickly making her way back to Sirius. He stared at her grimly as she returned with the necessities and sat beside him with a sad smile.</p><p>"Afraid it's not Madam Pomfrey's potions but it'll have to do." she declared, popping out two Paracetamol pills and depositing them into Sirius' hesitant hand. "Paracetamol. They'll help with the pain, swallow them whole with the ice cream."</p><p>He looked at her warily as she stood up again but grabbed the clean silver spoon nonetheless and scooped up some ice cream before letting the pills fall into his mouth and washing them down with the ice cream. The cold cream slid down his throat gracefully, and the flavour of caramel and marshmallow exploded against his tongue. He wanted to laugh as the chocolate flavour quickly followed. Of course Lily Evans had fantastic taste in ice cream. That was when Lily came back with what looked like a small blue pillow. </p><p>"Hold this to your eye," she whispered, passing him the pillow-like object. "It'll help with the bruise, and I'll clean your face. Then bed for both of us. We can talk in the morning, if you're up for it."</p><p>For the first time since he arrived, Sirius cracked a smile as he held the shockingly-cold object to his eye. He didn't know what the Muggleborn would be better at - being a Healer or a mother. He was happy he came here. Lily didn't demand anything of him, ask him what happened. Instead, she took him into her house without any hesitation, immediately began to heal his injuries and told him that he could talk to her when he wanted to. That was what he needed now. </p><p>With a damp wipe from the first-aid kit, Lily started to lightly dab at Sirius' face that was still trickling blood and gave a murmured apology when he flinched, finding it hard to hide her tears when his silver eyes met her green ones. She tried a smile, but a tear fell, and he grabbed her free hand, squeezing it gently. She smiled again, sniffling.</p><p>"You don't deserve this, Sirius." she said softly, and he just shrugged as if to say 'c'est la vie' like he always did. </p><p><em>But it shouldn't be!</em> she wanted to protest. No family should ever have this dynamic, no parent should fucking hit their child because they didn't turn out as the parent intended. But she swallowed it all and continued to clean Sirius' face of blood as he kept the ice-pack held to his eye. And every so often, he'd squeeze her hand again, and she'd smile.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Lily was shocked she even slept that night. She'd dressed Sirius in a pair of her pyjamas when the sun had started to rise at 4:53am and set up a sleeping bag, blanket and pillow on her bedroom floor for him to get into when he returned from changing. He'd fallen asleep almost immediately, but Lily stayed awake for another hour, staring at her friend. It scared her how normal his life seemed to him. Even Snape knew the abuse his father gave him wasn't how parents should treat their children. But Sirius… It was like he expected to get slapped if he did so much as misspell a word. She and Remus often had to reassure him several times that something as mundane as a word spelt wrong was perfectly fine. Everyone was allowed to make mistakes.</p><p>"Everyone but me." he'd mutter when they'd tell him that and Lily's heart broke a little more each time. </p><p>But she did end up falling asleep, with dreams of having to let Sirius go back to his house and him not returning to Hogwarts in September, until she woke up to the stream of sunlight blinding her through the small gap through her curtains and she saw Sirius still asleep on the floor beside her. She smiled tiredly in relief and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, sitting up in her bed. His bruised eye seemed to have calmed down through the night, which was really good, and Lily hoped his limp was better today. She really didn't want him to be subjected to Petunia and her snide remarks. She sighed and swung her legs over her bed to stand up and crouched down to kiss Sirius on the cheek, brushing his hair away from his face. It didn't hurt to let him sleep a bit longer. And, with that, she stepped over his sleeping form and waltzed down the stairs to see Petunia sitting at the sofa, watching something on the TV, and her mother sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and a book, absentmindedly stroking Crookshanks as she read.</p><p>"Morning, Mum." she greeted, discreetly closing the kitchen door so Petunia couldn't eavesdrop, and her mother looked up with a smile. "Where's Dad?"</p><p>"Just popped to Sainsbury's for some brunch stuff," she replied, placing her book down, as Lily picked Crookshanks up and looked at the clock on the microwave, 11:58. "We've all woken up later than we expected."</p><p>Lily smiled slightly, nuzzling her face into Crookshanks' fur. "Can I tell you something? Please don't get mad."</p><p>"What could you have possibly done that could make me mad, sweetheart?"</p><p>"Do you remember me telling you about my friend Sirius?" she sighed and Daisy Evans nodded, he was a lovely boy, if a bit rash and arrogant sometimes. "Something's happened at his house… So I said he could stay here and… And he's upstairs now. He came last night."</p><p>She felt tears start to well up in her eyes as she spoke, and she had to drop Crookshanks to turn around so her mum didn't see them. Oh, God, what did Sirius do to deserve to be treated like shit by his own blood? And for it to be so normal to him? Lily almost couldn't handle it. Sirius deserved everything good in the world, why did life keep giving him everything absolutely horrid? Swallowing, she reached out to reboil the kettle, and a sob escaped her lips, her tears finally, <em>finally</em>, falling. She curled into herself and sobbed more before Daisy pulled her into a tight hug, rubbing her back and stroking her hair softly. All Lily ever wanted was to protect the people around her. Daisy had always admired that part of her youngest daughter, even if she spent half of Lily's primary school years in the headmaster's office because Lily punched another bully twice her size in the stomach. Lily Evans was a strong girl, a caring girl, who wasn't afraid of standing up to people who hurt her friends. </p><p>Lily Evans was a force to be reckoned with, and people knew it.</p><p>"Mum, when is Da-- Oh." Petunia began then sneered at her sister's sobbing form when she walked into the kitchen. "My God, are you still crying over that greaseball?"</p><p>Lily froze in her mother's arms as her face started to turn as red as her hair. That was the final straw.</p><p>"FUCK OFF, TUNEY!" she screamed, throwing her mother's arms off of her and storming out of the room.</p><p>She heard her mother scold Petunia as she walked into the living room to reach the stairs and scoffed once. Like Petunia would ever listen when it came to Lily. </p><p>Ugh, she really needed a cigarette. </p><p>Climbing the steps and crossing the hallway to her bedroom door, she reached up to fix her hair and walked into her bedroom to see Sirius' sleeping bag empty. He must be in the bathroom or something. She shrugged and climbed onto her window sill with a sigh, reaching through her open window and grabbing her pack of cigarettes. The door opened, and Lily froze. Shit, shit, shit! Sheepishly, she looked back at the door, and her face burned bright red when she saw Sirius staring at her with raised eyebrows and his stupid half-smirk. She bit her lip. He wouldn't tell anyone, right?</p><p>"I won't say anything if you don't." she proclaimed, holding up the pack, and Sirius' smirk grew to reach his still badly-bruised eye.</p><p>"I didn't take you for such a rebel, Lils," he replied, jumping up to sit beside her, and took the cigarette she offered.</p><p>This time, she smirked. Petunia would grab her chest in such shock-horror if she ever found out that her freaky sister and her even more freaky friends indulged in such disgusting habits. With this entertaining thought floating around her brain, she wrapped her lips around her cigarette and held the lit lighter to the end before throwing it to Sirius and blowing the smoke into her room with a laugh. Sirius' puff of smoke quickly joined hers, and she sighed again as she leaned her head on the wall, a smile lingering on her lips. What she wouldn't give to do this more. It was rather dull to do it alone, and Remus lived too far for either of them to meet up for a secret smoke in the holidays.</p><p>"How's your eye?" she asked, looking at her friend as he stared at her.</p><p>"Better. I can actually see through it now," he said in a half-joking tone. "Effie will probably heal it the minute she sees me."</p><p>"Yeah, how come you came to me anyway?"</p><p>He sighed as she connected her cigarette to her lips again. "You were always going to be the first person I'd go to if I ran away, Evans. I love Prongs like a brother but he… He… I don't know."</p><p>He looked frustrated with himself as he inhaled some more cigarette smoke and puffed it out almost bitterly and Lily frowned, placing her hand comfortingly on his knee.</p><p>"I know," she whispered and his lips quirked up slightly. "He doesn't understand what it's like to not be loved by someone who's supposed to love you."</p><p>"Exactly." he breathed, and Lily nodded. "Obviously, he takes everything I tell him about them seriously, but sometimes he insists on talking about it when I don't want to and I jus--"</p><p>"I know," she repeated softly. "Snape was like that with me and Petunia."</p><p>He frowned too and edged closer towards his friend, making her smile and chuckle when he almost nudged his head under her arm like a dog. She sighed, blowing out some more smoke, and wrapped her arm around his head, stroking his hair as he laid his head on her shoulder. They sat in silence. The pure-blood and the Muggleborn who were meant to be sworn enemies. If only more people realised that blood status meant nothing. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"Better not mess him up, Potter! Took me all week to make him civilised!"</p><p>James Potter grinned crookedly as he walked backwards down her driveway, Sirius waiting on the pavement. "Wouldn't dream of it, Evans."</p><p>She chuckled and crossed her arms as she leant on her closed front door, waving when Sirius looked back after walking a few metres away. He grinned too and waved enthusiastically before turning back to Potter to laugh at something he'd said. She sighed. She'd watch them leave until she couldn't see them anymore.</p><p>She enjoyed this week she had with Sirius. She couldn't even deny it, not that she ever wanted to. Sirius was less solemn than Snape was on a good day, he was always up for doing anything Lily wanted to do. They even went to the fanciest cream tea place in the city, and Sirius definitely made it far more enjoyable by laughing too hard at one of her jokes and ended up spraying scorching hot tea out of his nose. </p><p>Everything was going to be a lot quieter now that Sirius wasn't there anymore.</p><p>The boys had made it to the end of the furthest road when Sirius stopped and turned to tell Potter something. Lily furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as he started to walk back towards her house and straightened up. Maybe he'd forgotten something. Then, when he reached the stretch of pavement her house sat on, he ran. He ran down her street, down her driveway. She couldn't even let out a word before he picked her up and spun her around effortlessly, her red hair flying around behind her. She shrieked with laughter before he put her down and stared at her tearfully. She placed her hand on his cheek.</p><p>"Thank you, Lils."</p><p>She smiled and hugged him. If Sirius Black couldn't be loved by his own family, then Lily Evans would make sure she loved him until the day she died.</p>
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